20250124 R13 Women Victory v Sydney FC-141

Melbourne Victory celebrate after injury-replacement signing Holly Furphy scored a goal on her A-League Women debut. Photo: Marcus Robertson/Round Ball Australia

Each week during the A-League Women season, Round Ball Australia hands out a report card for the competition based on how the teams performed across the weekend’s fixtures.

Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC (2-0)

Melbourne Victory: A

For the first time ever, Melbourne Victory have three consecutive victories in the Big Blue, winning last season’s final round contest 4-0, before a 1-0 win in December, and a 2-0 win on Friday.

The win saw Victory temporarily jump to the top of the table with Alana Jancevski’s free kick, while injury replacement signing Holly Furphy put the icing on the cake in the 77th minute.

Overall, this was a clinical performance from the home side who did exactly what they needed to do at almost every moment of the game to seal the three points.

With the Victory preparing for a Melbourne Derby to determine which side will be top of the table, this performance will fill Jeff Hopkins with confidence as they prepare to face their cross-town rivals.

Sydney FC: D+

Tasting defeat for the first time in 2025, Sydney FC left Melbourne with the blues after their loss, and it rapidly changed the direction of the season, as the side has to be in must win mode every week now in order to make finals.

Sydney had a couple of chances in this game, including Kayla Morrison nearly scoring an own goal in the first half, but for the most part, Ante Juric’s side just could not compete in this one. 

The defence was strong, restricting Victory to just four shots on target (eight total), and one of those was the unsaveable free kick from Jancevski. 

Having only conceded 16 goals all season, that is not the issue for Sydney. The issue is the other goals column, with goals for being a league low 9 (the next lowest is 13 from cross town rivals Western Sydney). 

AAP’s Anna Harrington said on The Far Post podcast that post-game Juric had indicated he tried to bring in some forward options, but with their not being a mid-season transfer window and other logistical issues, this was not possible.

If only there was an attacker in the squad who could slice through defences and leave them with a sour taste in the process, or perhaps a Young Matilda and NPL NSW Golden Boot winner? Or perhaps there is even a previous NPL NSW Golden Boot winner who is a free agent and could be signed to create some forward depth?

Poletti 

Western Sydney Wanderers vs Melbourne City (0-1)

Western Sydney Wanderers: C-

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

This is a rather famous quote, although the origins of it are unclear. It also appears to be the philosophy of Geoff Abrahams and the Wanderers who have kept the intent of playing out from the back.

Once again, this tactical approach led to the Wanderers defeat, as the strategy was unsuccessful, with Mariana Speckmaier winning the ball, before Holly McNamara put it away in the games only goal.

With the season basically a write-off for the Red and Black, you can’t blame Abrahams for wanting to instill his philosophies given his standing at the club, regardless of if he returns as full-time coach next year or just sticks with his role for the clubs Academy.

However, when it is clearly not working, there has to be a point when you try something else to see if something else can work. Players get demoralised by constantly losing. Fans don’t want to turn up and watch.

The talent is there for the Wanderers to win some games as the season draws to a close. Whether they’ll be put in a position to do so is another question.

Melbourne City: B

After what feels like an eternity, Holly McNamara made her first start for City after returning from her ACL injury, and a goal felt inevitable, with the forward scoring the games only goal, even if she did none of the work.

Mariana Speckmaier took the ball away from the Wanderers defender, cutting past two players, before crossing the ball into wide open space allowing McNamara to tap the ball into an open net.

The rest of the game, while it was somewhat of an un-Citylike performance, was enough to see the visitors walk away victorious at Wanderers Football Park, which is not always the easiest place to travel to.

The only base stat that resembled a City performance was passes (506, 84 per cent pass accuracy), but they had less than 60 per cent possession (56), only nine shots, and four on target. All of those numbers are usually far higher, but the only one that matters is leaving with the three points as they prepare for the Melbourne Derby.  

Poletti 

Adelaide United vs Western United (1-1)

Adelaide United: C

Coming off the back of a great performance against Brisbane, Adelaide were not quite the side they were last week, but still managed to secure a point despite that.

Erin Healy and Claudia Jenkins were easily the two standout players in this contest for the homeside with Healy scoring the sides only goal, with Jenkins restricting the visitors to just the lone goal as well.

Brisbane’s loss allowed Adelaide to create some separation between the two sides, with a two-point gap now between them, although the Reds will rue not being able to take all three points as the gap to the top two grew further this weekend, and results next weekend could put a shot at the Premiers Plate out of reach if Adelaide fail to claim all three points against Sydney FC.

Western United: C

Another Western United game, another goal-scoring controversy, but this time it went against the side from Tarneit, with Erin Healy’s wonder-strike looking similar to Kahli Johnson’s goal against Melbourne City a week earlier, with this one also counting in the eyes of the referee.

It seems like a tired point to continue to make, but the lack of camera angles for A-League Women fixtures continues to hurt the product. Friday night’s Big Blue showed fans just how good the Dub can look when there are the same amount of cameras used as the A-League Men are treated to with all the replays of Alana Jancevski’s goal. A similar angle here from behind the goals would have shown whether it crossed the line or not.

Elsewhere, the early season struggles of Sasha Grove appear to be a thing of the past, as the Young Matildas defender was immense throughout this game, while on the attacking end, Catherine Zimmerman continues to impress week after week, and her goalscoring form could help Kahli Johnson continue her upward trajectory by taking some of the pressure off the young forward.

Poletti 

Newcastle Jets vs Canberra United (2-2)

Newcastle Jets: C-

New round, same story – with a tinge of red.

Newcastle and Canberra have both been sides that have spent much of their season giving up points as a matter of consistent behaviour so you felt it was always going to be the case that one team left McDonald Jones Stadium feeling this way – unfortunately for the home side it was them.

An inability to finish in front of goal, combined with the fact that due to an absolute brain fade for Sheridan Gallagher, who executed a reckless slide tackle that could well have been a straight red, but instead was just a second yellow, the Jets finished with 10 players.

Newcastle dominated a number of key stats, 21 shots to 14 and 14 shots to 8 inside the box, yet only managed to get an equal amount of shots on target as Canberra at four a piece.

Newcastle need to solve their proficiency in front of goal otherwise they will not only lose touch with the top six, but they will end up trying to stave off Western Sydney and company for the wooden spoon.

Canberra United: C

There is no denying Canberra missed an opportunity to take three points out of Newcastle, however they were slow out of the gates and this saw the Jets snatch an early lead.

Canberra made a solid showing but repeatedly shot themselves in the foot with erroneous passing and sloppy ball use, which despite good success in the midfield and defence at times, saw an inability to turn possession into scoring opportunities.

United are no doubt stacked with class players and with the likes of Sally James at the back, Emma Robers in the midfield and Michelle Heyman up front they certainly on paper should have had the Jets measure.

Canberra have yet to live up consistently to the way their teams potential maps out on Antoni Jagarinec’s team sheet most weeks. If they can find that performance and combine it with the grit which saw them manage to sneak out of Newcastle with a point, they could be a real dark horse on the run home.

Chris Macpherson

Mariners vs Wellington (1-0)

Central Coast Mariners: B

Post-game, Emily Husband described this match as one of the best tactical battles her side had faced in the A-League in quite some time.

That was in part due to the state of the pitch, which was not conducive to good football, but the Mariners left with the three points, which is all that matters.

16-year-old Tiana Fuller scored a fantastic goal as she continued to make her mark on the competition, whilst Jessica Seaman, who signed with the Mariners on an injury-replacement contract, made her debut off the bench, with Husband praising her performance given her limited time with the squad.

With an F3 Derby on the horizon for the Mariners, a win over a struggling Jets side would cement them as finals contenders.

Wellington Phoenix: C+

Paul Temple said that his game plan went out the window in the first 10 minutes of this game because of the state of the pitch, which he described as spongy and hard to play on with the long grass.

After initially making adjustments to the 4-3-3 they came in with, Temple went to a back five for the remainder of the game, but those changes failed to help the Phoenix get a result from the game, despite Temple feeling they should have got a point from this game.

With a tough three weeks ahead (away vs Brisbane, home vs Melbourne Victory, and away vs Perth), Wellington’s place in the top six is anything but assured, and results will be a must.

Poletti 

Perth Glory vs Brisbane Roar (3-2)

Perth Glory: B

Very few would have tipped lowly Perth to knock over a high flying Brisbane side, even with Glory being at home. But in a game that saw four less than textbook goals exchange the lead multiple times in the first half, it was an 18-year-old with a superb strike from a free kick that sealed it for the Glory.

Ella Abdul-Massih, brought down on what was a deemed an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity and saw Holly McQueen shown a straight red card, stepped up from just outside the 18-yard box and drilled the ball through the defence and into the bottom corner to seal an unlikely win.

Perth on all the key statistics, form, and even flow of play didn’t look likely to walk away with a point let alone the full count for a win, but somehow thanks to Abdul-Massih and a brace from Caitlin Doeglas (despite one being absolutely gifted to her by Brisbane), the Glory defied the odds and got a crucial home win which lifted them above Sydney & Newcastle.  

Brisbane Roar: D

Brisbane at their best are one of the two best teams in this league. Unfortunately for the Roar they left their best in Brisbane as they travelled to Perth.

Tameka Yallop scored one of the most creative goals you will see to open the scoring with a side heeled nutmeg of two defenders finding its way into the net, however poor defensive pressure, horrendous goal keeping brain fades and then a very simple and silly foul from Holly McQueen essentially handed Perth the three points.

The brain fade from Olivia Sekany where she rolled the ball out in front of herself not seeing Caitlin Doeglas was park football at best and a moment she would love to have over again. Sekany however does not wear this loss on her own.

This is one of the worst performances we have seen from the Roar since their slow opening games to kick off the season. If they intend on challenging for the top two they quickly need to reset ahead of next round.

Adding salt to the wound for Brisbane was an injury to start Sharn Freier, which you would hope is not too serious for both Brisbane and for Freier’s future club Wolfsburg.

Chris Macpherson

Listen to the latest episode of The Dubcast, Round Ball Australia’s Women’s Football podcast on Spotify, Apple, or watch on YouTube, with new episodes every Wednesday.